


Lovely Cytherea

by wynnebat



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Gen, Human Sacrifice, Origin Story, Sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-12
Updated: 2010-03-12
Packaged: 2018-04-22 14:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4838426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aphrodite: from sea foam to goddess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lovely Cytherea

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written and posted ages ago, back on FictionPress. I was 15 and a tad too invested in Greek mythology, though I never did read the Percy Jackson books. This story is only slightly edited; I got rid of a couple parts I really don't like, but otherwise it's the original story, tense issues and all.

What is happening? I do not understand. What is this?

I do not want this. Why am I changing? I want to stay.

"Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, leave me be!" I cried. How is it that I can speak? What has happened to me?

I reached out to my master with my mind. Why would he not answer me? I could always feel my lord. I could not any longer. Have I done something wrong? I had been a faithful servant for centuries. He has never shown displeasure to me before now. I do not know what to think.

Sea water rushed into the place I spoke from. There is a tunnel inside of me. I choke. Why is it I am choking? I move. I feel something move. I have somehow moved long tentacles. They are mine. I do not recognize them. I do not recognize the body they are attached to. This is not me. Why am I not me?

I have a body. A body like one of the octopi. No, not the octopi. Their tentacles are darker and with suction cupping and a slippery touch. I have coated over octopi many times, but in this body I cannot. This body, my lord, reminds me of a human's. They are disgusting, vile creatures that do not value the oceans. Surely you have not made me into one of them, sir. What have I done to anger you so much?

I do not understand your intentions, my lord. Please, if it is not you who has done this to me, help me!

_Rest, my child. Close your eyes and leave your past self behind. You have been born anew and I will not allow you to be harmed before you have fulfilled your prophecy. You are destined to become a greater being than a mere human. Rest and believe in the Fates. They will not do you harm._

.

"Mother, she seems to be waking up," a deep voice boomed, shaking me out of my sleep. It reminded me of my master's, but was not as grand as his. This tone did not rid me of sleep, but simply annoyed my new mind. This voice left something to be desired.

I opened my eyes to see a pair of light green orbs staring down at me. What is this? There is a human next to me. It is ugly, much like the rest of them. Its short dark hair and huge frame scared me very much. I feel small compared to it. It is abnormally large compared to all the other humans that I have seen.

I am inside a human hut. It is very small, with one bed and a few woven baskets, and makes me miss the vast ocean of my lord. I feel so tired in this small body. It was hard to move my limbs. Why was I brought here?

"Oh you are finally awake. You gave us quite a scare," a human with arctic-shell hair chattered. It was of medium human height, smaller and frailer than the other humans I have observed. It has wrinkles, a sign of human aging, everywhere, even on its ancient hands. I am a human now. Will this horrific wrinkle thing happen to me as well? I do not want to be wrinkled. I wish to stay myself.

"A scare," I repeated and wondered why I could understand this language. Human speech had always seemed garbled and crass next to my own beautiful tongue. It seems that this human understands me, since it nods and smiles, but I cannot comprehend how. How do I know these human words? I could never grasp the threads of this language, but now my tongue is fluent. It must have been Lord Poseidon's doing.

"A scare is definitely an understatement! Thene and I found you unmoving on the northern beaches, completely covered in sea foam. I couldn't even feel a heartbeat on you, at first. I thought you were dead. But don't worry my dear. There is not a mark on you," the human chattered. It does seem very concerned about me, but still keeps looking outside the hut for something or someone. Maybe another human?

"What is sea foam?" I do not understand some human terms, but I seem to have a good understanding of this language. Why is it so? I realized I cannot feel my lord. It must be this human body's fault. My mind feels so much smaller than before. I had been able to feel myself in all the corners of the world but not anymore. My senses have been dulled and I cannot even smell the human stench surrounding most of these two-legged animals. Maybe it is because I am human now myself. I did not know humans had such limited senses.

"Sea foam?" It looked at me in a different way. As though it cannot understand me. "She must not be from these parts. I guess the elders were right. We can use her," it muttered, but I could still hear it. "Sea foam is the yellow and white bubbles that ocean waves bring to land."

That is me! No, that was me. I was this sea foam it is talking about. Except it is wrong! I was the most important ocean dweller, except for my lord. I knew everything about the oceans and would recap every detail of what has been happening to my lord when he could not watch over his domain. I could talk to every creature and could tell you the exact time King Aegan fell into me, fell to his death. I could tell you which ships sank and when, which sailors survived and which were dragged down into Lord Poseidon's dark waters. I was about to correct it when the door slammed into the wall.

It was the short-haired human from when I first opened my eyes. What does it want now? It is looking at me very strangely. As though it cannot look away. Does my human body look even worse than its? I could never bear to see myself in this form. I will have to avoid seeing my reflection since I am probably as ugly as this human. "Mother! They are coming! Is she ready?"

"Almost! Can you hold them off for a short time Thene? I need to explain this to her," the older human cries, obviously anxious and nervous. It makes me nervous as well. What are they planning to do with me? The short-haired human leaves the hut. "Oh, my dear, I would never wish this fate on a foreign soul. I wish they would take my own daughter in place of you. You are too beautiful to die, but that is why you are the sacrifice. Your beauty, little one," it whispers, listing a lock of my hair, "will appease the Lord of the Seas."

"The Lord of the Seas is already appeased. He is happy, or at least he was the last time I could sense him. You do not need a sacrifice," I try to convince it. I do not wish to die as a human. I am a mere mortal now, but as sea foam I was invincible. I was immortal like my lord.

The human is angry at me. I do not understand humans. They wear their emotions on their face, yet I cannot understand them very well. Why is it angry at me? I speak the truth and the truth is in my favor. Does it not want master to be happy?

"Insolent girl!" It cries, grabbing my tentacle and pulling me up to a sitting position. I can now see I am wearing the same ugly attire as this human. Did it dress me? I never wore these unsightly garbs in my former state. I had no need for them. But from my observations, humans like the one with me prefer to cover their ugly bodies. They are right to do so. But why use even uglier material to cover their already ugly selves? "How dare you speak as though you are familiar with the Lord of the Seas! Your beauty is breathtaking but your mind is wicked and corrupt. A dangerous combination. It is well that you are to be sacrificed or else you may seduce our husbands without lifting a single finger."

Why would I want to seduce these human men? They are ugly. "I do not need your ugly men. You should not worry," I try to appease this human, trying to tell it that I will not touch them. This makes it even angrier. What am I doing wrong? I cannot see how I am upsetting it. It grabs my left tentacle and forces me out of the human bed. I am annoyed. It was very warm in this strange structure. When I voiced my concerns, it almost growled in the manner of land animals with short tails and thick fur. I did not know humans could do this, but it looks very scary now. I start to shrink away when I realize I am unable to stand on my lower two tentacles, as the human does, without holding on to the bed.

"Let's go, you vile woman. I will be much too happy to let you die," it growls and its face is contorted in an unhappy expression. This is very different from its happy and concerned face when I first awoke. Is its change in mood my fault or is it regular human behavior? I wish to apologize to it, but decide against this. The apology may hurdle it into an even worse state of mind and it may use its tentacles against me.

It tugs on my tentacle and I stumble and almost fall. It does not let go of me and almost pulls my tentacle out. My tentacle _hurts_. This is my first time feeling hurt. I thrust my other tentacle out to steady myself and regain my balance just as the human pulls at my tentacle again. I grab onto it and stumble with my lower tentacles through the opening of the human hut. There is a crowd of arctic-shell haired humans with very light brown skin huddled around the hut. Most have very short hair, maybe an inch in length, and the rest have very long hair, almost as long as their upper tentacles. Their clothes are as torn and dirty as my own. They are ugly. They stare at me and at the human next to me.

Why are they staring? I look down at my new body. My new skin is lighter than theirs, not darkened by the sun into a different color. It is only a very light tan, the color of my beautiful foam. Maybe I am not as ugly as I thought; after all, my favorite color is in my skin. I touch my hair with my free tentacle. It is the color of the dusty human castles far south. My skin does not have wrinkles. I am happy. Does this mean I do not look like the human next to me? Maybe I am a handsome human. I will be the only one then. The group of humans is still staring at me. I do not know why, but it makes me uncomfortable. I never felt uncomfortable when humans stared at me in my foam form.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I ask them these questions and the older humans break out of their separate trances. "What are you planning to do to me?" A few humans look to the ground with a shameful expression on their faces. It makes them seem just a little less ugly. They think I am angry with them because they want to sacrifice me. But I do not see anything wrong with sacrifices. I simply do not wish to be sacrificed. But if sacrifices make Poseidon happy…

"You are on the island of Cyprus, fair lady. We are the people of this island. We found you on our shores and believe you are a gift from the gods," a short-haired human answered. I decide I don't like the reverence in its tone. I am only an ugly human like it. They should not be awed. Then I notice one of the long-haired humans is unhappy. It has an expression similar to the scary woman next to me.

The scary human cuts in. "We are taking you to eastern cliffs, where we will chain you to the rocks as a sacrifice to the Lord of the Seas, the giver of horses, the Earth-Shaker Lord Poseidon. He will be pleased with a maiden as beautiful as you." It says this in a very happy tone. I realize it wants me to die. Are all humans this cruel and blood-thirsty? I do not want to be chained to a rock and made to wait for my master.

"And what if Lord Poseidon does not come for me?" I ask, hoping they will free me. Then I can get away from this scary woman and pray for the rest of my short human life to be turned back into sea foam. Maybe Lord Poseidon will answer my prayers if I pray for at least an hour every day.

"Then you will wed one of the single men of this village and work in the fields with the rest of us women. I should hope our lord collects you, because your hands are too soft our tasks. The only thing you will be good for is carrying water at midday and even that I imagine your thin frame cannot handle. So you will probably then clean your husband's house and concentrate on pleasing him. I think my brother will be happy with such a beautiful wife," the scary human ranted, aiming to frighten me. It worked.

I do not want to please a human husband. I pleased the dolphins by singing their praises. I pleased the octopi by clinging to their tentacles. But I do not know how to please an ugly human husband.

One of the other humans frowns. "Kaede, can't we sacrifice someone else? She is so pretty… I cannot bear to see her leave us. I have only seen her thrice, but I am already enamor—"

"Stop! Thene, stop this nonsense. She is not as pure as you may think she is. Why, she thinks she has talked to the Lord Poseidon. She's either crazy or wicked and trying to get out of her sacrificial duty. Any woman should be honored to become a sacrifice."

The scary human, Kaede, starts walking and I have no choice but to hold on to it and move my lower tentacles at the same time it moves its. It is uncomfortable and the wide slabs of flesh at the very bottom of my tentacles have begun to hurt very much. I do not like it. I want the pain to stop, but the scary human is walking faster and faster.

"Kaede, stop! She is having trouble walking. Do you really expect her not to collapse before she gets to the eastern cliffs? I will carry her," the human that asked the scary human to allow someone else to be sacrificed. I like this human. It tried to protect me. I think the scary woman is called Kaede and this short-haired one is called Thene. I remember observing that humans have these things called names. They use these names to call a certain human to them. It is a very good idea. I should have given the octopi names so I could call them now and they could scare away all these humans.

Thene gently lifts my body up. My head rests on its shoulder and its one of its upper tentacles holds up my lower tentacles and its other upper tentacle holds my upper body. I feel very comfortable.

"Are you okay?" He inquires.

"No," I whisper quietly. "I am very scared."

"Don't be. Lord Poseidon may not come for you. And if he doesn't, I will ask my mother, Kaede, for your hand in marriage. You will be my wife and bear my children. No one will harm you, my beautiful Aphrodite," he murmurs, calming me very much.

"What have you called me?" I have been given a human name. I am now more human. This both upsets me and pleases me. I would not mind staying with this nice human. He is ugly, but he is very calm. He can teach me how to please a man and how to bear children. I have never understood how children come out of long-haired humans. One moment the humans are very fat, then they are thinner and with a small child. Are the children inside of the humans? Or do the children come from elsewhere and eat the mother's fat to grow? Is that why humans are so thin when they are very old?

Oh, the mysteries of this race. Now my race.

"Aphrodite, my beauty. Aphros means foam in our Greek language and I thought it fitting since you were covered in foam when mother and I first found you." It mistook my perplexed face as outrage, when I was simply wondering how such a scary woman could have birthed such a kind human. "Please, do not be angry! Do not worry for your chastity. I did not touch you inappropriately. All I did was carry you into mother's house and gave you to her so she could bathe and dress you. I did not watch!"

"I am not worried. You are very nice and do nice things. You make me happy," I smiled, its patting of the place under my lower back pleasing me very much. Maybe humans are not that bad, since they can make me very happy.

It grinned and lightly pinched the place it was patting. "I'm glad, dear Aphrodite." Its eyes went wide when I smiled at it and it only broke out of its daze when it, Kaede, the mob of ugly humans, and I reached the cliffs. I had been too busy talking to Thene to pay attention to the walk to the cliffs.

Cliffs are what humans call the slab of rock that is at a much higher than the sea, and it will kill you if you jump into the sea from one of these cliffs. Thene began telling me the story of two star-crossed lovers that jumped from these cliffs in order to be together in death since they could not marry on earth, but I was not interested in a human tale. When we reached the edge of the cliff, Thene did something very strange. He placed me on the ground, walked to the very edge, kneeled down, turned around, and slowly lowered himself down. Kaede dragged me toward the edge and I saw that some rocks jutted out more than most and Thene had used these to climb down. A very ingenious idea. These humans were cleverer than I had first thought.

"I'm ready, Mother!" He yelled. I suppose he had to yell since he was a good distance from the top of the cliff. But what was he ready for?

At this time, I was looking over the edge of the cliff and holding onto Kade. I should have known not to trust humans. Kaede smiled in its very scary way, grabbed my tentacles, and pushed me off. I screamed for less than a second until a hard, warm body caught me. Thene, my savior, cradled me against its chest until I stopped shaking. Could I not have climbed down like Thene? Did I really have to be pushed down? Does Kaede dislike me enough to want to scare me this terribly?

I remember seeing these cliffs from the ocean and thinking of how beautiful they looked, but how the image of human children playing on top of them marred their beauty. I had been too far away to see the ominous metal chains welded into the rock. My fear intensified when Thene set me down, even though I very much wanted to stay in its warm tentacles, and started to chain my lower and upper tentacles. He locked the metal chains around my lower and upper tentacles with a low "I'm so sorry, my beautiful Aphrodite." The chains hurt my skin very much. I did not like it.

"Kaede, Thene, may I please sit here without the chains? I will not be able to climb up anyway," I looked up and pleaded, trying to look as innocent as possible, but I could tell Kaede knew I was lying. It scowled at me from above. And it shook its head.

Thene, on the other hand, looked completely convinced. So did most of the short-haired humans that had followed us, which were now looking over the edge of the cliff in silence. It seemed that I could only convince the younger short-haired ones. They had that awed emotion in their eyes and I think they would believe anything I say.

"Mother, I think—" Thene tried to convince its mother, but with no avail as Kaede cut it off.

"No. I will not allow this woman to bewitch you. Leave, everyone. Now!" Everyone shuffled back to the collection of huts further inland. Even Kaede left after glaring at me and telling me that it will "make me disappear" if Lord Poseidon will not accept me. I do not want to disappear, unless Kaede can turn me back into sea foam. Then I will be eternally grateful to this human. But I do not think it can do that, since it is not Lord Poseidon, and also its words left me with a bad feeling.

I sat and waited for Lord Poseidon to come for me. I waited, and waited, and waited until darkness began setting in. I definitely believed in my lord, but maybe I had done something to displease him? Should I have made an offering to him as soon as I became a human? I don't think Kaede had any bulls for me to offer.

A while later, as the evening wore on, I saw a huge disturbance in the ocean. The waters were twisting in a circle, like a whirlpool, and had become very dark. This continued for a few minutes until the earth started to shake and I felt the ground rumble. A three-pronged spear began to lift out of the water and a man along with it. Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, the Earth-Shaker, had finally come for me!

His form soon fully emerged from the ocean and a single wave slowly raised him up to me. I should have been disappointed, for his outward appearance was that of an older human's. He had a few wrinkles on his face and a bushy white beard, but I could not describe him in a word not synonymous to magnificent or stunning. His eyes were the color of the sea. I could not tear my eyes away. Is this the emotion the humans felt when they stared at me? His mere presence demanded my respect and I willingly gave it to him. His majestic aura left me no doubt. This was my lord, the one I shall serve until I die.

"My lord," I whispered, crawling onto my knees in a low bow of complete submission. The wave had set him down on my slab of rock, only a foot away from me. I was so close to my revered companion, the ruler of all seas.

"Rise, Aphrodite," he commanded and I stood up, ignoring the shakiness in my tentacles and the pain I felt when I used them. He walked over and touched each chain. They loosened and fell to the ground. I was freed. "Do you know why you are here?"

"I do not, my lord. I have been faithful to you for my entire existence, and you have now turned me into a human. I do not wish to offend you, sire. I simply do not understand your intentions," I said to him, praying he would not be angry for doubting his actions. I could not bring myself to look in his eyes to see if he was angry.

"Look at me Aphrodite," he ordered and I obeyed. He did not seem angry, but I have learned looks can be deceiving. "You have been my faithful servant for thousands of years. This is not a punishment as I know you think it is. This is a gift. You are not human. You are a goddess. You will not die until all the sea foam of earth vanishes, and for that to happen all the seas and rivers will have to dry out. That will only occur if I die. I am immortal. I will not die. You will not die."

"My lord…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. This was such an honor. Should he really have chosen me?

"You are the Olympian Goddess of Love and Beauty, but this title comes at a price. You will bring joy to all of Greece and beyond, but you will be weak. You cannot fight and will never be able to learn to do so. Should you throw a dagger, your aim will forever be crooked. Should you draw a sword, you will never hit your target. Little one, if you wish to return to sea foam, tell me now. Otherwise, I shall take you to Mount. Olympus where you will reside for the rest of eternity," he concluded, staring shrewdly at me.

I nodded. There was not much of a choice. This was too big of an opportunity to miss. This was the chance of a lifetime. "I will come with you my lord, and serve you and your brothers for the rest of time."

"I hope you keep your naivety and innocence, if only for a little while longer. It is too refreshing for a god as old as I," he murmurs, touching my cheek. He gently grasped my tentacle and pulled me toward him. Then the ocean rumbled once again and a giant wave enveloped my master and I. I closed my eyes, fearing what the water could do to my human, or goddess, form. When I opened them again, I found myself on above the clouds, standing on a misty surface that I should not have been able to stand on, staring at the imposing Kingdom of the Olympians.

It was grand, marvelous, and nothing at all like human castles. Those had been gaudy and simply _plain_ compared to this majestic structure. White mist reached higher than my knees and rushed through my toes, healing my aches, steadying and energizing my body. But even with the mist's power pulsing through my veins, I felt minuscule, dwarfed by the Kingdom of the Gods. Built of pearly white stone, this was the ultimate temple of worship. Beams lifted the ceiling high into the remaining clouds and I could see faces of gods carved into the outside walls. I was shocked to see my new name, Aphrodite, already engraved into one of the center beams.

"Welcome to Mount. Olympus, my child."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Complete; no sequel planned.


End file.
